Turkey Tourism Statistics Updated November 2026

Human Written & Fact Checked · Updated

145 Turkey Tourism Statistics for 2026

Turkey recorded 52.8 million foreign visitor arrivals in 2025, the most on record, and earned US$65.2 billion from tourism. Arrivals were almost flat on 2024, but income grew faster than visitor numbers. In the first nine months of 2026, foreign arrivals were slightly below the same months of 2025.

The country's official name is Turkiye; this page uses Turkey. It gathers the official figures on Turkey tourism in one place: arrivals and source markets, the 2026 trend, income and spending, travel by residents, where visitors enter, Istanbul, hotels, airports, cruises, museums, the seasons and weather, what tourism is worth to the economy, the government's targets and how safe residents feel. Every number links to the body that published it, with the date.

Turkey counts visitors in two ways. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism counts foreign nationals as they arrive at the border. TurkStat, the statistics office, surveys visitors as they leave, including Turkish citizens who live abroad, and uses that survey to measure tourism income. The two counts are close in size but measure different things, so we never mix them.

Headline figures

How many foreign visitors come to Turkey each year?

Foreign arrivals have grown in almost every normal year since 2010 and set a new high in 2025, though growth stalled that year. The two big falls came in 2016 and in 2020, during the pandemic.

28.63m 2010 31.46m 2011 31.78m 2012 34.91m 2013 36.84m 2014 36.24m 2015 25.35m 2016 32.41m 2017 39.49m 2018 45.06m 2019 12.73m 2020 24.71m 2021 44.56m 2022 49.21m 2023 52.63m 2024 52.78m 2025
View data table
Foreign visitor arrivals to Turkey, 2010 to 2025, in millions, all from the ministry's latest annual table.
PeriodValue
201028.63m
201131.46m
201231.78m
201334.91m
201436.84m
201536.24m
201625.35m
201732.41m
201839.49m
201945.06m
202012.73m
202124.71m
202244.56m
202349.21m
202452.63m
202552.78m
Foreign visitor arrivals to Turkey, 2010 to 2025, in millions, all from the ministry's latest annual table. (Ministry of Culture and Tourism (border statistics 2025), 2026)

Arrivals count foreign nationals entering at the border, so a person who enters twice counts twice. They leave out Turkish citizens living abroad, who are counted separately. The bulletin does not say whether same-day visitors, such as cruise passengers, are inside the foreign total, so we call it foreign visitor arrivals, not tourists. All years come from the 2025 annual bulletin, which may include small revisions to earlier years. The comparisons with 2010, 2015 and 2019 are our calculations.

Where do Turkey's visitors come from?

It depends on how you count. By passport, Russia sends the most visitors, with Germany close behind. By country of residence, which counts Turks living abroad where they live, Germany leads by a wide margin because of its large Turkish community.

  1. 1 Russia 6.90m
  2. 2 Germany 6.75m
  3. 3 United Kingdom 4.27m
  4. 4 Iran 3.05m
  5. 5 Bulgaria 2.81m
  6. 6 Poland 1.91m
  7. 7 United States 1.58m
  8. 8 Georgia 1.33m
  9. 9 Netherlands 1.28m
  10. 10 Romania 1.17m
Turkey's 10 largest source markets by nationality in 2025, foreign visitor arrivals. (Ministry of Culture and Tourism (border statistics 2025), 2026)

The ministry counts foreign nationals by passport at entry. TurkStat counts departing visitors by country of residence and puts Turkish citizens living abroad under the country they live in, so Germany's total includes many people of Turkish origin. The two tables answer different questions and should not be compared directly. The data do not give reasons for changes by market.

Are visitor numbers to Turkey falling in 2026?

Slightly. Foreign arrivals in the first nine months of 2026 were a little below the same months of 2025, with a sharp drop in April and a flat summer. Fewer Britons and Americans came, while Russian and Chinese arrivals grew.

2.25m Jan 2.13m Feb 2.46m Mar 3.53m Apr 4.86m May 5.54m Jun 7.10m Jul 6.96m Aug 6.11m Sep
View data table
Foreign visitor arrivals to Turkey by month in 2026, provisional.
PeriodValue
Jan2.25m
Feb2.13m
Mar2.46m
Apr3.53m
May4.86m
Jun5.54m
Jul7.10m
Aug6.96m
Sep6.11m
Foreign visitor arrivals to Turkey by month in 2026, provisional. (Ministry of Culture and Tourism (border statistics Sep 2026), Oct 2026)

All 2026 figures are provisional. The bulletin gives no reasons for the changes. Citizens living abroad are counted separately from foreign arrivals.

How much does Turkey earn from tourism?

Tourism income has risen every year since the pandemic and passed its 2019 level in 2022. Growth slowed in 2026: income fell in April to June before a stronger summer.

35.72 2012 40.19 2013 41.32 2014 37.70 2015 26.54 2016 31.25 2017 35.92 2018 42.85 2019 15.29 2020 30.53 2021 50.25 2022 56.44 2023 61.10 2024 65.23 2025
View data table
Turkey's tourism income, 2012 to 2025, in US$ billion, on TurkStat's revised series.
PeriodValue
201235.72
201340.19
201441.32
201537.70
201626.54
201731.25
201835.92
201942.85
202015.29
202130.53
202250.25
202356.44
202461.10
202565.23
Turkey's tourism income, 2012 to 2025, in US$ billion, on TurkStat's revised series. (TurkStat (tourism statistics Q3 2026), Oct 2026)

Income comes from TurkStat's survey of departing visitors, with card and airport data, and includes spending by Turkish citizens living abroad and by transit passengers. TurkStat has revised its past income figures, and this page uses only the latest series, which starts in 2012; earlier years were compiled on an older method and are not comparable. The April to June 2020 figure was estimated from card data only, as no border survey ran. Figures are in current dollars. The changes for April to June and January to September 2026 are our calculations.

What do visitors to Turkey spend their money on?

Package holidays take the biggest share of what visitors spend, followed by food and drink. Health care is a growing part of the bill: visitors spend about twice as much on it as in 2019.

  1. 1 Package tours (Turkish share) 18.20
  2. 2 Food and drink 13.62
  3. 3 Other goods and services 10.29
  4. 4 International transport 8.25
  5. 5 Accommodation 6.98
  6. 6 Clothes and shoes 6.13
  7. 7 Transport inside Turkey 3.31
  8. 8 Health 3.02
  9. 9 Souvenirs 2.28
What visitors to Turkey spent their money on in 2025, in US$ billion. (TurkStat (tourism statistics Q3 2026), Oct 2026)

Spending figures come from TurkStat's survey of departing visitors and include Turkish citizens living abroad. TurkStat's departing-visitor count is a different measure from the ministry's arrivals count and is not compared with it. Package tours count only the part of the price that stays in Turkey, and international transport covers Turkish carriers. Most hotel nights are sold inside packages, so separate accommodation spending looks small. Health spending covers all visitors who paid for health services, including those who came for other reasons, and differs from the health ministry's own counts. The 2026 nine-month changes and the comparisons with 2019 are our calculations from TurkStat's quarterly tables.

How much do Turkish residents travel within Turkey?

Most domestic trips are to see family and friends, and about two-thirds of nights are spent in their homes. Trips have recovered from the pandemic but are still below their 2018 peak.

78.52m 2018 78.20m 2019 42.85m 2020 52.77m 2021 52.33m 2022 61.46m 2023 66.84m 2024 67.85m 2025
View data table
Domestic overnight trips by Turkish residents, 2018 to 2025, in millions.
PeriodValue
201878.52m
201978.20m
202042.85m
202152.77m
202252.33m
202361.46m
202466.84m
202567.85m
Domestic overnight trips by Turkish residents, 2018 to 2025, in millions. (TurkStat (domestic tourism 2025), Apr 2026)

Domestic trips are trips of at least one night within Turkey by people living in Turkey, from a household survey. They are a different unit from foreign arrivals and are not compared with them. Spending is in current lira and is not adjusted for inflation, so the rises should not be read as growth in real terms. The two-thirds share of nights is our calculation. The domestic survey runs about two quarters behind.

Where do foreign visitors enter Turkey?

Istanbul and Antalya together take about two-thirds of foreign arrivals. Antalya's airport is the single busiest entry point, while Edirne, on the Bulgarian border, leads for arrivals by road.

  1. 1 Istanbul 18.97m
  2. 2 Antalya 16.01m
  3. 3 Edirne 4.51m
  4. 4 Mugla 3.49m
  5. 5 Izmir 1.63m
  6. 6 Artvin 1.47m
  7. 7 Aydin 0.94m
Foreign visitor arrivals by province of entry gate, 2025. (Ministry of Culture and Tourism (border statistics 2025), 2026)

Entry figures count foreign nationals where they cross the border, not where they stay: a visitor who lands in Istanbul and flies on to Antalya counts in Istanbul. They are not visitor counts for each province. The 2026 changes are our calculations, comparing provisional 2026 data with revised 2025 monthly data, so treat them as approximate. The two-thirds share is our calculation.

How many visitors does Istanbul get?

Istanbul is Turkey's main entry point and the only big destination that is busy all year. Its arrivals grew in 2026 while the coast lost visitors.

  1. 1 Russia 2.02m
  2. 2 Germany 1.52m
  3. 3 United States 1.06m
  4. 4 Iran 0.91m
  5. 5 United Kingdom 0.76m
Istanbul's five largest source markets by nationality in 2025, foreign arrivals through Istanbul's gates. (Istanbul Culture and Tourism Directorate, Dec 2025)

Border figures count foreign nationals entering through Istanbul's airports and ports, including people who fly on elsewhere in Turkey. Accommodation covers ministry-licensed establishments only, not those licensed by the city, and a guest who changes hotel counts twice. The 2025 accommodation totals are much higher than those published for 2024 while foreign arrivals rose only slightly, which points to wider reporting coverage, not a real jump, so we give levels only and no growth rate. The 31% share is our calculation.

How full are Turkey's hotels?

Licensed hotels and resorts were about half full on average in 2025. Antalya dominates: it has more than two-fifths of the country's beds, and its hotels ran much fuller than the national average.

  1. 1 Antalya 111.34m
  2. 2 Istanbul 40.11m
  3. 3 Mugla 24.67m
  4. 4 Izmir 8.41m
  5. 5 Aydin 7.10m
  6. 6 Nevsehir 4.11m
Overnight stays in licensed accommodation by province, 2025, in millions. (Ministry of Culture and Tourism (accommodation 2025), 2026)

Figures cover establishments licensed by the ministry, including simple-licence units since 2022, and leave out those licensed by municipalities. Occupancy is bed occupancy. Guest arrivals are check-ins, so a guest who changes hotel counts twice. Coverage has widened in recent years, so we do not compare 2025 with earlier years. Room and bed counts cover operating-licensed establishments only. Shares are our calculations.

How do visitors get to Turkey?

Three in four foreign visitors arrive by air, and Istanbul's two airports are by far the busiest. Air traffic grew in 2026, but international traffic at the resort airports fell.

  1. 1 Istanbul 84.51m
  2. 2 Sabiha Gokcen 48.41m
  3. 3 Antalya 39.00m
  4. 4 Izmir 12.67m
  5. 5 Dalaman 5.58m
  6. 6 Milas-Bodrum 4.36m
  7. 7 Kayseri 2.77m
Passengers at Turkey's main tourist airports, 2025, in millions. (DHMI, Dec 2025)
  • In 2025, 40,257,286 foreign visitors (76.3%) arrived by air, 9,574,415 (18.1%) by land, 2,883,399 (5.5%) by sea and 59,955 by rail. (Ministry of Culture and Tourism (border statistics 2025), 2026)
  • In January to September 2026, air arrivals of foreign visitors fell 2.2% to 31,230,285, while land arrivals rose 2.1% to 7,435,349. (Ministry of Culture and Tourism (border statistics Sep 2026), Oct 2026)
  • Turkey's airports handled 246,776,560 passengers in 2025, up 7.2%, including 145,202,376 on international flights. (DHMI, Dec 2025)
  • Sabiha Gokcen, Istanbul's second airport, handled 48,407,318 passengers, up 17%, with international passengers up 24%. (DHMI, Dec 2025)
  • Antalya Airport handled 39,000,177 passengers, 32,151,890 of them on international flights. (DHMI, Dec 2025)
  • Izmir handled 12,665,660 passengers, Dalaman 5,577,142, Milas-Bodrum 4,357,902 and Gazipasa-Alanya 992,383. (DHMI, Dec 2025)
  • Kayseri airport, the main air route to Cappadocia, handled 2,765,751 passengers, against 754,489 at Nevsehir's Kapadokya airport. (DHMI, Dec 2025)
  • In January to September 2026, Turkey's airports handled 193,079,304 passengers, up 3.0%, but international passengers rose only 0.5%, to 111,369,604. (DHMI, Sep 2026)
  • Antalya's international passengers fell 5.5% to 24,600,903 in the same months, while Istanbul Airport handled 64,502,869 passengers (up 2%) and Sabiha Gokcen 37,948,837 (up 7%). (DHMI, Sep 2026)

Airport figures count passenger movements, arrivals and departures, including Turkish residents and transfer passengers, so they are not visitor counts. Istanbul Airport is a large transfer hub. The 2026 airport figures are provisional. Arrivals by mode count foreign nationals at the border.

How many cruise passengers come to Turkey?

Cruise traffic passed 2 million passengers in 2025 for the first time since 2013, and Kusadasi, the port for Ephesus, takes almost half of it. Numbers grew again in early 2026.

  1. 1 Kusadasi 995,843
  2. 2 Istanbul ports 625,517
  3. 3 Bodrum 138,166
Cruise passengers by port, 2025. (Ministry of Transport, Jan 2026)

Cruise figures come from the transport ministry and count passengers at each port call, so a passenger who stops at two Turkish ports counts twice. Border figures count foreign nationals only, and sea arrivals include ferry passengers, so the two sources do not match. The border bulletin does not say whether same-day visitors are inside the foreign arrivals total. The 2026 cruise figures are from the latest transport ministry release, covering January to May. Kusadasi's share of cruise passengers is our calculation.

How many people visit Turkey's museums and historic sites?

Cappadocia's open-air sites in Nevsehir drew more visits than any other province's state-run sites in 2025, just ahead of Izmir, home of Ephesus. Istanbul leads by far once private museums and palaces are counted.

  1. 1 Nevsehir 4.40m
  2. 2 Izmir 4.36m
  3. 3 Konya 3.50m
  4. 4 Antalya 3.50m
  5. 5 Istanbul 3.12m
  6. 6 Denizli 2.49m
Visits to ministry museums and archaeological sites by province, 2025, the six largest. (TurkStat (cultural heritage), Sep 2026)
  • State-run museums and sites took 52.9% of visits in 2025. Private museums recorded 21,905,335 visits, up 10.8%, and the National Palaces 9,122,685, down 8.8%. (TurkStat (cultural heritage), Sep 2026)
  • The ministry's museums and sites received 34,834,619 visits, of which 20,888,733 were paid. The ministry sold 6,804,917 Museum Cards. (TurkStat (cultural heritage), Sep 2026)
  • By province, Nevsehir had 4,400,922 visits to ministry sites, Izmir 4,364,975, Konya 3,502,501 and Antalya 3,495,596. (TurkStat (cultural heritage), Sep 2026)
  • Istanbul had 3,115,987 visits to ministry sites and Denizli, home of Pamukkale, 2,491,271. (TurkStat (cultural heritage), Sep 2026)
  • Counting all museums, Istanbul had 18,307,485 visits, far ahead of Izmir (4,646,357) and Ankara (4,642,683). (TurkStat (cultural heritage), Sep 2026)
  • Turkey had 664 museums in 2025, 220 of them run by the ministry, 426 private and 18 National Palaces, plus 148 archaeological sites. (TurkStat (cultural heritage), Sep 2026)

Figures count visits, not people. Province totals for ministry sites leave out private museums and the National Palaces, such as Dolmabahce, which are run separately. Hagia Sophia is a working mosque and is not in these figures. Official counts for single sites were not available for 2025, so we give province totals only.

When is Turkey busiest, and what is the weather like?

July and August are the peak months on the coast, when hotels are fullest and it hardly rains. Istanbul is busy all year, and spring and autumn bring milder weather and fewer visitors.

2.17m Jan 2.17m Feb 2.35m Mar 3.90m Apr 5.04m May 5.77m Jun 7.12m Jul 6.97m Aug 6.09m Sep 5.68m Oct 2.80m Nov 2.72m Dec
View data table
Foreign visitor arrivals to Turkey by month, 2025.
PeriodValue
Jan2.17m
Feb2.17m
Mar2.35m
Apr3.90m
May5.04m
Jun5.77m
Jul7.12m
Aug6.97m
Sep6.09m
Oct5.68m
Nov2.80m
Dec2.72m
Foreign visitor arrivals to Turkey by month, 2025. (Ministry of Culture and Tourism (border statistics 2025), 2026)
  • July was the busiest month of 2025, with 7,116,096 foreign arrivals, against 2,171,118 in January. (Ministry of Culture and Tourism (border statistics 2025), 2026)
  • Arrivals through Antalya rose from 166,742 in January 2025 to 2,575,914 in July, a 15-fold swing. (Ministry of Culture and Tourism (border statistics 2025), 2026)
  • Bed occupancy in licensed accommodation was 71.15% in August 2025 and 26.79% in March. (Ministry of Culture and Tourism (accommodation 2025), 2026)
  • August 2026 brought US$9.56 billion of tourism income, the highest month in TurkStat's 2025-2026 table, against US$3.42 billion in December 2025. (TurkStat (tourism statistics Q3 2026), Oct 2026)
  • In Antalya, July highs average 34.2°C with 11.7 hours of sunshine a day, while December brings 250.9 mm of rain and January highs average 15.0°C. (MGM, 2025)
  • Istanbul's highs average 9.6°C in January and 29.7°C in July and August. December is the wettest month, with 99.2 mm, and July the driest, with 22.1 mm. (MGM, 2025)
  • Izmir, the gateway city for Ephesus, averages 33.3°C highs and 12.4 hours of sunshine a day in July, and 145.8 mm of rain in December. (MGM, 2025)
  • Cappadocia is cold in winter: Nevsehir averages a January low of -3.6°C and a high of 4.0°C, rising to a 28.5°C high in July. (MGM, 2025)

Arrivals count foreign nationals at the border. Weather figures are long-term station averages from the state weather service, for 1930-2025 in Antalya, 1950-2025 in Istanbul, 1938-2025 in Izmir and 1959-2025 in Nevsehir; they are not 1991-2020 normals. The Nevsehir station is in the city, not at Goreme. The 15-fold swing is our calculation.

What is tourism worth to Turkey's economy, and what are the targets?

Tourism's direct share of the economy is back above its 2019 level. The government expects income to dip slightly in 2026 and has set rising targets from 2027.

5.08% 2019 2.76% 2020 3.57% 2021 4.63% 2022 5.30% 2023 5.10% 2024
View data table
Tourism direct gross value added as a share of Turkey's gross value added, 2019 to 2024, latest revised values.
PeriodValue
20195.08%
20202.76%
20213.57%
20224.63%
20235.30%
20245.10%
Tourism direct gross value added as a share of Turkey's gross value added, 2019 to 2024, latest revised values. (TurkStat (tourism satellite account), Dec 2025)

Direct gross value added counts only value created directly by visitor spending, not knock-on effects, and is a share of gross value added, not GDP. TurkStat revised the whole satellite account series in its 2024 release after a revision of the national accounts, so earlier published shares and job counts differ; we use only the latest values. The 4.1% figure is our calculation from tourism income and GDP in the same program table, and compares gross income with GDP, so it is not a value-added share. Targets come from the Medium Term Program published in the Official Gazette on 6 September 2026 and are not official statistics.

Do people in Turkey feel safe?

Two in three adults in Turkey said they feel safe walking alone at night near home in 2025, more than in 2024. This is a survey of how residents feel, not a crime measure or a figure for tourists.

  1. 1 Men 75.7%
  2. 2 All adults 66.6%
  3. 3 Women 57.6%
Share of adults who feel safe or very safe walking alone at night in their neighbourhood, 2025. (TurkStat (life satisfaction survey), Feb 2026)
  • 66.6% of adults said they felt safe or very safe walking alone at night in their neighbourhood in 2025, against 58.6% in 2024. (TurkStat (life satisfaction survey), Feb 2026)
  • 74.1% said they were satisfied with public order and security services, the highest score of any public service in the survey. (TurkStat (life satisfaction survey), Feb 2026)

Figures come from TurkStat's life satisfaction survey of residents aged 18 and over. They measure how safe people say they feel, not recorded crime, and do not cover visitors. The shares combine the safe and very safe answers and are our sums. We found no official figures on crime against tourists.

Glossary

TurkStat
The Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), which publishes tourism income, departing visitors, domestic tourism, the tourism satellite account and museum statistics.
Ministry of Culture and Tourism
The government ministry that publishes border arrivals, accommodation and licensed establishment statistics, with provincial directorates such as Istanbul's.
DHMI
The General Directorate of State Airports Authority, which publishes passenger traffic for all Turkish airports.
MGM
The Turkish State Meteorological Service, the national weather service.
Foreign visitor arrival
A foreign national entering Turkey at a border gate, counted each time they enter.
Departing visitor
A visitor counted by TurkStat when leaving Turkey, including Turkish citizens who live abroad.
Citizens living abroad
Turkish citizens who live in another country and visit Turkey; counted separately from foreign arrivals.
Same-day visitor
A visitor who does not stay overnight, such as a cruise passenger who sleeps on the ship.
Tourism income
TurkStat's estimate of what visitors and transit passengers spend in Turkey, including spending by citizens living abroad.
TSA
Tourism satellite account, TurkStat's measure of tourism's direct value added and jobs.
GVA
Gross value added, the value of output minus inputs; close to GDP but before taxes on products.
Medium Term Program
The government's three-year economic plan, published in the Official Gazette, which sets tourism income targets.

Methodology and sources

Figures come from Turkey's official producers: TurkStat for tourism income, departing visitors, domestic tourism, the tourism satellite account, museums and the life satisfaction survey; the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and its Istanbul directorate for border arrivals, accommodation and licensed establishments; DHMI for airports; the transport ministry for cruise passengers; the weather service for climate; and the Medium Term Program in the Official Gazette for targets. TurkStat and ministry citations are labelled by release. Each figure links to the document that carries it, with the date; TurkStat tables are cited through their bulletin pages. Where a series was revised, we use only the latest values. Border arrivals and TurkStat departing visitors measure different things and are never mixed. Provisional figures are labelled as such, and where we calculated a figure, such as a share or a nine-month change, the note says so. The page is reviewed monthly and the date is shown at the top.